The idea that international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL) are complementary, rather than mutually exclusive regimes generated a paradigmatic shift in the international legal discourse. The reconciliation was driven by a humanistic ethos and its purpose was to offer greater protection of the rights to life, liberty and dignity of all individuals under all circumstances. The complementarity of both regimes currently enjoys the status of the new orthodoxy and simultaneously invites critical reflection. This collection of essays accepts the invitation, offering diverse assessments of the merits of taking human rights to the battlefields of the twenty-first century.

International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law comprises three parts: part I focuses on the paradigmatic (security based "armed conflict" vs. human rights centered "law enforcement" paradigms) and the normative complexities of the interaction between both regimes in the "fight against terror" and in other, allegedly new, types of wars. Part II discusses the interplay between IHRL and IHL in the context of three specific regimes: belligerent occupation, the European Court of Human Rights, and the protection of cultural heritage. Part III explores the potential fusion of IHL and IHRL into a new paradigm in two areas: post-bellum accountability and compensation to victims of war crimes.

The range of issues, multitude of competing norms and narratives, and shifting paradigms explored in this collection, converse with each other. This conversation mirrors the process through which international law - paying deference to political realities while simultaneously seeking to transcend them - charts new pathways to advance its humanizing project.

Orna Ben-Naftali is Professor of International Law and Dean of the Law School, the College of Management Academic Studies in Israel. A graduate of The Law Faculty of Tel-Aviv University, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University and Harvard University, she taught at Brandeis University and at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and worked in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the United Nations. Ben-Naftali's publications focus on International Humanitarian Law, most particularly, the Law of Belligerent Occupation; International Criminal Law and on the Cultural Study of Law. She is a member of the board of editors of the European Journal of International Law; founding member of the executive board of Concord - the Research Centre for the Interplay between International Norms and Israeli Law, and a member of the executive board of B'tselem - theIsraeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.

Review:

...the volume edited by Ben-Naftali is a valuable collection of essays which cover a wide range of topics relating to International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law and consider a huge amount of state practice and case law. * Marina Mancini, Global Law Books * All in all, the book provides a reflective and multi-level analysis of the issues that the conjoined application of human rights and humanitarian law gives rise to. * Nicholas Tsagourias * In conclusion, the volume edited by Ben-Naftali is a valuable collection of essays which cover a wide range of topics relating to IHL and IHRL and consider a huge amount of state practice and case law. * Marina Mancini, European Journal of International Law * Ben-Naftali's edited collection provides a very worthwhile contribution to this debate, with a number of contributions in particular offering significant and novel insight into some of the complex and intricate legal problems that arise in this field. This collection is undoubtedly a useful contribution to the field. * Conor McCarthy, Human Rights Law Review *